Indiana Jones: The Quest for Death...aka Harrison says kill Indy!!

[Gaith]

Not a patch on Raiders and totally lacking the chemistry that made Last Crusade great, but it was much better overall than Temple of Doom and taken on it's own it was still an enjoyable film in it's own right and beat the hell out of pretenders like the National Treasure, Tomb Raider of Mummy

Fail.

I'd dispute that a poll with 32 participants is a reliable measure of opinion.

I also made several compelling arguments as to why The Mummy is the best archeology-flavored adventure movie since Raiders, and roughly 80% of the thread's respondents found it better than at least one Indy flick. You're welcome to debate those arguments anytime.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I liked the first two Mummy movies; I haven't seen the third. I wish they had cast a different actor in the lead role, but the movies themselves were enjoyable. Not quite Indy, though.

 

[Too Much Fun]

Lucas and Speilberg NUKED THE FRIDGE with Indy.

Is that supposed to be the new 'jumped the shark'?

 

[JWD75]

I enjoyed the elderly Indy segments in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and I have no idea why Lucas suddenly decided to edit them out of the series. I rather like the idea that Indy survived a lifetime of dangerous adventures and managed to live to a ripe old age. Beating the odds and dying of old age after a long death-defying life is the way I want Indy to go out.

 

[RandyS]

On screen deaths are never a good idea. Just look at how the death of Kirk was butchered. When one creates a legend, it's always hard to make a pleasing death.

Kirk's death didn't bother me that much, but Data's idiotic death was stupid. And pointless.

 

[RandyS]

Incidentally, with all the KotCS hate flying around I should admit in all honesty that I rather liked the film. Not a patch on Raiders and totally lacking the chemistry that made Last Crusade great, but it was much better overall than Temple of Doom and taken on it's own it was still an enjoyable film in it's own right and beat the hell out of pretenders like the National Treasure, Tomb Raider of Mummy films audiences have been subjected to since Indy last rode off into that sunset. So yeah, I'd take a sub-par Indy over just about any other adventure movie any day.

Agreed. Crystal Skull was nowhere near as bad as Temple of Doom, but also nowhere near as good as Last Crusade (my personal favorite) or Raiders.

I will see Crystal Skull tonight for the third time (after seeing it in the theater and later buying the DVD). I'm capping a four night Indy marathon. Last night was my most favorite. Two nights ago reminded me of just how bad Temple of Doom was, but reminded me that I did, at least like the soundtrack. I might have to get the CD one of these days. It's the only Indy soundtrack I don't have.

 

[JarodRussell]

What, since when is Temple of Doom bad? Maybe not as good as Raiders and Crusade, but I'll be damned, it's a great movie.

 

[Timby]

What, since when is Temple of Doom bad? Maybe not as good as Raiders and Crusade, but I'll be damned, it's a great movie.

Well, Short Round and Kate Capshaw are pretty unbearable, for one. My biggest problem is that it's just so macabre and bizarre in many spots. Last Crusade is basically a straight remake of Raiders with the addition of Connery, but at least it's fun. (For that matter, so is Crystal Skull; my biggest problem is that Ray Winstone had nothing to do except switch alliances in every other scene.)

 

[Gaith]

What, since when is Temple of Doom bad? Maybe not as good as Raiders and Crusade, but I'll be damned, it's a great movie.

Time to ease up on that deodorant intake, hombre.

 

[davejames]

Well, Short Round and Kate Capshaw are pretty unbearable, for one. My biggest problem is that it's just so macabre and bizarre in many spots.

Maybe on their own, but I've always thought the cameraderie between the three characters was a lot of fun to watch. They just have a TON of great banter and dialogue in that movie (where the 4th movie has almost none of that), and their reactions fit the crazy, funhouse ride of the movie really well, I think.

 

[Shazam!]

What, since when is Temple of Doom bad?

It isn't. It's awesome.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Maybe it's because TOD was the first Indy movie I saw and, until KOTCS, the only one I saw in the cinema, but I've never gotten the hatred for it. It's action-packed, fast moving, scary and funny. I much prefer it to the hugely over-rated TLC, which is played for laughs, re-hashes Raiders, has inferior action scenes and makes too little use of the classic Indy theme music.

 

[Forbin]

ToD is usually hacked for being too dark and gruesome as compared to 1 and 3. I personally hack it for the needlessly disgusting dinner scene, the way-too-many-bugs-in-the-cave scene, and the ridiculous mine car chase.

I agree that willy is too whiny and annoying, but, IMHO, she's so insanely gorgeous to look at that I let it pass.

 

[Captaindemotion]

^See, what I don't get is the way Empire Strikes Back is (rightly) acclaimed for being darker and more grown up than its predecessor; TOD gets slated for the same reason. Return of the Jedi is slated for being too similar to the first movie in that trilogy and for being too comedic- Last Crusade gets a by-ball on those counts. Go figure!

 

[Australis]

ESB was dark, ToD was gruesome. The 'rummaging in the chest for the heart' bit was what put me off. KotCS was OK, but expectations were always going to be way too high, same with SW Ep 1

I can't see it continuing. 'Mutt Jones and the Forest of Time'? 'Mutt Jones and the Last Temple'? Doesn't work. And I don't much like Sleepy la Boofhead anyway.

 

[Tulin]

I still maintain however that the root of the problem is a lack of chemistry between Ford and that jittery bloke who's name I can't spell.

Shia LaPoof?

 

[Captaindemotion]

ESB was dark, ToD was gruesome. The 'rummaging in the chest for the heart' bit was what put me off.

ESB has Luke getting his hand chopped off, Vader force choking an officer to death, the faux-Vader getting his head chopped off in Dagobah, Luke's co-pilot getting killed, then stomped on by an AT-AT, Han frozen in carbonite and 3PO getting blown up!

Don't get me wrong, ESB is a much better movie than TOD, but I think it's easily as gruesome or scary for a young viewer (which I was in the early 1980s).

 

[Greylock Crescent]

What, since when is Temple of Doom bad? Maybe not as good as Raiders and Crusade, but I'll be damned, it's a great movie.

Since 1984.

Actually, it's not bad, it's just not particularly good. If it wasn't an "Indiana Jones" film (with John Williams' excellent score), no one would have paid much attention to it.

 

[Reverend]

What, since when is Temple of Doom bad?

It isn't. It's awesome.

^I never said Temple of Doom was "bad", just that overall I thought Crystal Skull was better. While I think it's almost certainly the weakest of the four films (debatable, I know), I wouldn't call it a bad film in it's own right.

I suppose my main problems with it are the lack of any strong villain--just some bloke in a funny hat who does very little other than strut around, chant and look evil. Having the cliché damsel in distress and smart mouthed kid as sidekicks didn't help matters either. In all the other Indy films the female lead was always able to stand toe to with Indy and take care of herself...admittedly in two of those films it's the same woman, but the point remains.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Temple of Doom was an early example of an inappropriate descent into the dark and gritty fad; sort of a precursor of what was to come over the next quarter century. It pretty much skirts the edge of violating the concept's artistic integrity. But it's still a fun movie, and is acceptable as one episode out of several (sort of like Final Frontier).

But that stupid life raft scene drives me crazy.